Jan 6 Spartans Stun Pandas in Five Sets

Women’s Volleyball (conference)
Friday, January 06, 2006
# 8 TWU Spartans (3) vs. the #2 University of Alberta Pandas (2)
(25-17, 25-23, 22-25, 19-25, 15-11)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Spartans Stun Pandas in Five Sets
#8 TWU upsets #2 Alberta in marathon match

LANGLEY, British Columbia - The eighth ranked Trinity Western University women’s volleyball team got one of the biggest wins in their short seven year CIS history Friday night at TWU. The Spartans matched second ranked University of Alberta Pandas point for point to take the five set match 25-17, 25-23, 22-25, 19-25 and 15-11. The win moves the Spartans to 9-2, while the loss drops the Pandas to 9-2 in Canada West league play. Both teams are now tied with UBC for first place at 18 points each.

“I was pleased with the way we served tonight. It kept them off balance and away from their strengths, while our passing tonight was rock solid, which allowed us to have a balanced attack.” said TWU Head Coach Carol Hofer. “It was a great team effort; we had great performances from everybody, even the role players who came in for a few key points played well. It is great to be rewarded for the effort that was put out tonight.”

It unexpectedly looked like the Spartans were going to roll over the Pandas in three straight as TWU controlled the first two sets of the match and held an 18-14 lead in the third set. But Alberta is a top ranked team for good reason, and they were not about to roll over and get swept. The Pandas responded to take the next two sets and force the thrilling fifth set.

The fifth set was an amazing display of hustle and heart. Alberta jumped out to the early lead, but after a Danielle Foth kill TWU had tied the set at 4-4. Saralyn Raugust’s kill gave TWU the 5-4 lead. The two teams traded points to 7-7. Then the Spartans took the next two points to go up 9-7 and force the Pandas to take the timeout. After the timeout Alberta rallied. Three straight kills by Jocelyn Blair and Tawana Wardlaw, gave the Pandas three points and a 10-9 lead. It would be Alberta’s last lead of the match. Rhonda Schmuland tied the set at 10 with a middle attack. TWU took the lead for good when Tawana Wardlaw’s crosscourt attack went long. On the next serve Alberta went to Tasha Holness, but TWU’s Jodi Schaufele and Rhonda Schmuland were there with the stuff block to give TWU a 12-10 lead. Jodi Schaufele helped the Spartans seal the win on the next point. She ran into the stands on the Alberta side of the net to play the ball back to her side and keep the rally going. Alberta failed to take advantage of the free ball and gave the ball back to TWU. The Spartans’ Rhonda Schmuland then sent the ball into the back of the Pandas court to give TWU the three point lead, 13-10. Schaufele was at it again on the next point as her crosscourt attack found open court to give TWU match point, 14-10. Tawana Wardlaw fended off match point, but Alberta’s ensuing serve went long to give TWU the upset win 15-11.

“It was a long match tonight and when you are in a fifth set you need points like Jodi’s and Rhonda’s to give you extra energy to get your momentum going and finish the match. The effort and intensity that was created by those plays gave us energy to feed off.” said Hofer.

The Spartans and the Pandas played even for the start of the first set; in spite of three service errors TWU still led Alberta 8-7 at the first time out. After the break the Spartans corrected their errors and used the strong serving of Anna Paddock and Saralyn Raugust to go on a 8-2 run to take a 16-9 lead at the second timeout. TWU maintained the momentum for the remainder of the set as the Spartans opened the match with a 25-17 win.

The second set was a battle right from the start. The score in the set was tied 15 times and had six lead changes. TWU held the slim 8-7 lead at the first break, but by the second break Alberta turned the score around to take the 16-15 lead. The two teams remained tied at 22. Then after a TWU timeout Liz Spear found the floor to put the Spartans up one. Jodi Schaufele then got the service ace, one of four Spartan aces in the set – to put TWU up 24-22. Alberta’s Jocelyn Blair’s kill got the point and the serve back for the Pandas with TWU up 24-23. The Spartans got the pass they needed and Liz Spear pounded the ball crosscourt to give the home team the 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Rhonda Schmuland’s serving got the Spartans going to start the third set, giving TWU an 8-5 lead at the first break. The two teams played side out for the next 15 points until Jodi Schaufele’s roller down the line extended the Spartans’ lead to four points, 16-12 at the second break. The two teams exchanged points to 17-14. Then another roller into the back court by Schaufele gave TWU an 18-14 lead and forced Alberta into a time out. After the timeout the Pandas used strong serving by Jocelyn Blair to take the next six points and a 20-18 lead. Saralyn Raugust’s kill stopped the bleeding and got the Spartans the serve back, trailing 20-19. But the Pandas had gained the momentum in the set and took the next two points to build their lead back to three points, 22-19. A big block on Alberta’s Tawana Wardlaw by Paddock and Schmuland made it 22-20 for Alberta. But the Pandas got the next two points as Tawana Wardlaw’s big cross court kill made it 24-20 for Alberta. Danielle Foth kept the set going when her cross court attack got TWU the point to make the score 24-21. Wardlaw’s next hit went just outside the line to make it 24-22 for Alberta. After a Panda timeout Alberta took the set 25-22 when TWU’s serve went long.

In the critical fourth set the two teams matched each other point-for-point to the second timeout. Tasha Holness’ kill gave the Pandas the one point lead 16-15. But after the timeout the momentum of the set swung dramatically to Alberta. Amanda Atkinson, who served the Pandas into the timeout, finished her run with Alberta up 21-16. A TWU time out slowed Alberta momentarily, but the lead was too much for the Spartans to overcome as the Pandas took the fourth set 25-19.

Spartan middle Liz Spear (Langley) with 16 kills, and libero Julie Blackburn with 19 digs led all players. Tawana Wardlaw with 15 digs led the Pandas. TWU’s Jodi Schaufele finished with three service aces.

The two teams go at it again tomorrow at TWU. A quirk in the schedule has the match starting at 4 pm, followed by a TWU basketball doubleheader against Victoria.

Match Notes: TWU hit at 19% with 54 kills, while Alberta hit at 17% with 53 kills...the Pandas out-blocked the Spartans 12 to nine, while TWU held the edge in serving with eight aces to Alberta’s five.

-TW-

 Volleyball Box Score
                         TWU Women's Volleyball 2005-06
       #2 Alberta Pandas vs #8 TWU Spartans (Jan 06, 2006 at Langley, BC)



   Alberta Pandas         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2  Jocelyn Blair.......  5| 12   6  31  .194|  0|  2   1|  2| 15| 1  1  0|  0|  15.5
6  Tiffany Dodds.......  5|  2   2  12  .000| 45|  2   3|  0|  7| 2  4  0|  0|   8.0
9  Kristin Van Eck.....  5|  4   3  11  .091|  3|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  3  0|  0|   5.5
11 Amanda Atkinson.....  5| 11   2  21  .429|  2|  1   1|  1| 12| 1  0  0|  0|  13.0
12 Tawana Wardlaw......  5| 15   8  45  .156|  1|  0   2|  0| 14| 0  3  0|  0|  16.5
15 Tasha Holness.......  5|  9   7  26  .077|  0|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  5  0|  0|  11.5
1  Daryll Roper........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  Jillian Shudra......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 Jodi Frison.........  5|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  5| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 53  28 147  .170| 52|  5  11|  8| 66| 4 16  0|  0|  70.0

 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10 10  30  .000   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  0  18  .556   Alberta Pandas...... (2) 17 23 25 25 11  9-2
   3  11 10  38  .026   TWU Spartans........ (3) 25 25 22 19 15  9-2
   4  15  1  36  .389
   5   7  7  25  .000

   TWU Spartans           |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2  Saralyn Raugust.....  5|  9   6  30  .100|  0|  1   5|  2|  8| 0  1  0|  0|  10.5
4  Jodi Schaufele......  5|  9   6  33  .091|  1|  3   4|  0|  7| 0  4  0|  0|  14.0
5  Danielle Foth.......  5| 11   5  34  .176|  2|  1   2|  1|  6| 0  3  0|  0|  13.5
7  Liz Spear...........  5| 16   5  28  .393|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|  17.5
8  Rhonda Schmuland....  5|  7   2  15  .333|  1|  1   2|  0|  9| 0  7  0|  0|  11.5
13 Anna Paddock........  5|  2   0   6  .333| 43|  1   3|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  0|   4.0
1  Leigh Dreher........  2|  0   1   3 -.333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
3  Julie Blackburn.....  5|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  2| 19| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
9  Alicia Van Huizen...  3|  0   0   2  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 Dayna JansenVanDoorn  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 54  25 152  .191| 49|  8  17|  5| 60| 0 18  0|  0|  71.0

 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  3  28  .321   Site: Langley, BC (David Enarson Gym)
   2  14  8  29  .207   Date: Jan 06, 2006   Attend: 295   Time: 2:25
   3   9  4  33  .152   Referees: J. Kublick, J. Gogol
   4  12  8  43  .093
   5   7  2  19  .263
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       6  15   4   9   6    40
                        Lead changes     4   6   5   6   6    27

Last Updated: 2009-02-16
Author: Scott Stewart
Email: ssstew@twu.ca